Before S.S. Coachella, which put the popular Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival on a cruise ship last year, was Jason Beukema’s parties at sea.

In 2004, the music-loving Floridian invited 125 of his friends for a weekend-long cruise centered around music and a mantra: “Work hard. Play harder.”

Now nearly a decade later, the party has grown to be known as the “world’s largest floating dance music festival” and it sailed off the coast of Long Beach on the Carnival Inspiration for its first West Coast launch since 2009.

The musical cruise experience took about 2,000 people, from all over Southern California and as far as Japan, India and Australia, on a trip from Sept. 27 to Sept. 30 and made stops at Catalina Island’s Descanso Beach and Esenada, Mexico.

There were dozens of DJs including Brett Rubin, Morgan Page and Funkagenda to provide 72 hours of music, according to Whet Travel, the agency that organized the cruise. Past DJs include Deadmau5 and Benny Benassi.

It was such a success in its Southern California incarnation that it is expected to return again next year, said Beukema, CEO of Whet Travel and founder of the Groove Cruise.

“I had been on a ton of cruises and I was always bored because it was just a bunch of families and old people,” Beukema said. “But I always had this vision of what it would be like if I had all my friends on a cruise, because in my mind a cruise ship is one of the most amazing venues for a party.”

The average age on the party cruises by Whet Travel is 31.

“So, you see, there are places where us, young professionals, can still act like we’re in college,” Beukema said, laughing.

And the demand by that demographic is just growing.

“You’ll see more of these music and themed cruises,” said Tom Panici, sales director for Carnival. “There’s no experience like this. Where can you go where you’re on a ship with the artists you love?”

<URL destination=”http://storify.com/LADNMarMendoza/groove-cruise-l-a-2013″>Click here to check out social media reaction to Groove Cruise L.A.

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